Exit interview questions and a guide to run them
Exit interview questions in a ready-to-run 25-minute guide: probes, who should ask, when to hold it, and how to sort answers into preventable turnover.
Good exit interview questions ask when the person started looking, what prompted it, and what would have kept them, about specific moments rather than general opinions. This guide gives you the questions in seven sections with follow-up probes, and takes about 25 minutes. Have someone other than the line manager ask them, and if you can, hold the conversation a few weeks after the last day rather than during it.
| Section | Time | What you learn |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Opening | 2 min | Trust, who sees what |
| 2. The decision | 5 min | When and why they started looking |
| 3. The work itself | 4 min | Workload, tools, rota |
| 4. Manager and team | 4 min | Support, recognition, conflict |
| 5. Growth and pay | 4 min | Pull factors, the new offer |
| 6. What would have kept you | 4 min | Preventable or not |
| 7. Close | 2 min | Anything missed, the door back |
What is an exit interview for?
An exit interview is a planned conversation with someone who has resigned, about why they are going and what the organisation could have done differently. It is useful for one thing above all: finding the turnover you could have prevented. Gallup’s 2024 study of people who had recently changed jobs found that 42% of voluntary leavers said their manager or organisation could have done something to keep them. In the same study, 45% said no manager or leader had discussed their job satisfaction, performance or future with them in the three months before they left.
So every exit interview should end with one judgement: could we have kept this person, and what would it have taken? The questions below are built to reach that judgement.
Exit interview questions: the guide
Ask about moments, not opinions. “How was the culture?” gets a polite word. “When did you first think about leaving?” gets a date, a meeting and a name.
1. Opening (2 minutes)
- How long were you in this role, and how did it change while you were here?
Before this, say why you are asking: to find what the organisation should change for the people still here. Say who will see the answers and in what form. Make clear that nothing said affects their reference or final pay.
2. The decision (5 minutes)
- When did you first start thinking about leaving? What happened around then?
- When did you start actively looking, and what made you start?
- Did you talk to anyone here about it before you decided? What came of that?
Follow up with:
- Was there one moment, or did it build up?
- If that moment hadn’t happened, would you still be here?
3. The work itself (4 minutes)
- Tell me about a typical week in your last three months. What took more of your time than it should have?
- What did you need to do the job well that you didn’t have?
Follow up with:
- Did you raise it? What happened?
4. Manager and team (4 minutes)
- How often did you have a proper conversation with your manager about how things were going for you?
- Tell me about a time you felt well supported here, and a time you didn’t.
Follow up with:
- Would colleagues in your team describe it the same way?
5. Growth and pay (4 minutes)
- What does the new role give you that this one didn’t?
- Could you have got that here? Did you ask?
Follow up with:
- If we had matched the pay, would you have stayed?
- Were you looking for more money, or did the money come with an offer you were already open to?
6. What would have kept you (4 minutes)
- Looking back, what could your manager or the organisation have done that would have kept you?
- What should we change for the people who are staying in your team?
Follow up with:
- When would that have needed to happen to make a difference?
7. Close (2 minutes)
- Is there anything I should have asked and didn’t?
- Would you consider coming back one day? What would need to be true?
Who should conduct the exit interview?
Not the line manager. If the manager is part of the reason, sections 4 and 6 will get a careful answer. SHRM’s guidance on conducting exit interviews recommends a neutral person, because employees may be less candid with their supervisor present. Everett Spain and Boris Groysberg, in Harvard Business Review, suggest second- or third-line managers and a semi-structured format: fixed questions to spot trends, open ones to catch the unexpected.
- HR business partner. Neutral on the team, but still part of the organisation that writes the reference. Good for most roles.
- A manager two levels up. Has the authority to act on what they hear, and shows the organisation cares. Needs training not to defend the team.
- A third party. The most distance from the organisation, at a cost per interview. Works for senior or sensitive leavers.
- An AI interviewer. The same questions and follow-ups for every leaver, answered privately on their own phone or computer, in their own time.
Spradley runs one-on-one interviews by text or voice, with invitations by email or Slack, and asks a follow-up question on every answer, so “a better offer” becomes what made the person start looking. Privacy is built into the agent, not left to whoever reads the notes: each leader’s Personal Agent never sees one person’s answer, numbers and ratings are never shown for fewer than five people, and it refuses to identify anyone or to monitor intent to leave. That suits leaver interviews in aggregate: a quarter’s leavers across a department, rather than one named person. When several exits point at one theme, such as rota changes at one site, the Personal Agent drafts a follow-up interview on that theme for the people who stayed, and the leader sends it after one confirmation. Our employee engagement page describes how that fits next to an existing survey.
When should you hold it: the last week or after they leave?
The last week is convenient. The person is still in the building, and you can collect the laptop on the way out. It is also the week they most want a good reference and a friendly send-off. Expect the safe version.
Four to eight weeks after the last day, the new job has started, the reference is written and the final pay has cleared. People have less to protect and can compare the old job with the new one. Response rates drop, so keep it short: sections 2, 5 and 6 cover most of what matters.
A workable rule: hold a short exit conversation in the last week for the practical items and a thank-you, and send the full interview four to eight weeks later. We explain why the timing changes the answers in why exit interviews don’t get the truth.
How do you analyse exit interviews into preventable and unpreventable themes?
- Code each leaver as preventable or unpreventable, using section 6. Moving abroad with a partner, retiring or going back to study is unpreventable. A manager who never held a one-to-one is preventable.
- For preventable leavers, group the reasons. Gallup’s categories are a useful start: pay and benefits, manager relationship, organisational issues, career advancement, and staffing or workload.
- Note when the person started thinking about leaving (section 2). If it was months before they resigned, the fix sits in that period, not in the counter-offer.
- Lay the themes over turnover by team, tenure and site. Three leavers from one team citing workload is a staffing problem in that team.
- Take the top three preventable themes, with two or three quotes each, to the people who can act, every quarter.
The last step is the one most often skipped. In a CIPD survey of 1,500 UK leaders, 42% said their organisation collected exit interview data, and only 18% said the senior leadership team reviewed it.
A worked example, invented for illustration. A hospital ward loses five nurses in six months. The exit forms say “career move” five times. Coded with the guide above, three of the five turn out to be preventable: all three started looking after the rota changed to twelve-hour shifts, and none raised it, because the ward manager introduced the change. That is a rota decision to revisit with the people still on the ward, which you can test with stay interviews before the next resignation.
Adapt it
- For frontline and shift workers, run sections 2, 3 and 6 in ten minutes and ask about rotas and breaks in section 3.
- For leavers in their first year, replace section 5 with “What was different from what you were told when you joined?”
- For senior leavers, add to section 4: “What did the leadership team get wrong in the last year?”
- For a post-departure interview, open section 2 with “Now you’ve started the new job, what’s different?”
Frequently asked questions
What are the best exit interview questions?
Ask when the person first thought about leaving and what prompted it, what the new role gives them, whether they raised the problem, and what would have kept them. Follow each with a probe for a specific moment.
Who should conduct an exit interview?
Someone other than the line manager: an HR business partner, a manager two levels up, a third party or an AI interviewer. People are less candid when their own manager asks. An AI interviewer such as Spradley also asks a follow-up on every answer and reports only groups of five or more.
When should you do an exit interview?
A short conversation in the last week for practical items, and the full interview four to eight weeks after the last day, when the reference and final pay are settled.
How long should an exit interview take?
About 25 minutes. A ten-minute version with three sections works for frontline staff and for interviews after the person has left.
What is preventable turnover?
Departures the manager or organisation could have stopped, such as leaving over workload, a manager or a blocked promotion. Gallup found 42% of voluntary leavers said their exit could have been prevented.
Key terms
- Exit interview
- A planned conversation with someone who has resigned, about why they are leaving and what could have kept them.
- Preventable turnover
- Departures the manager or organisation could have stopped by acting on the reason in time.
- Post-departure interview
- An exit interview held some weeks after the person's last day, when they have less to protect.
- Semi-structured interview
- An interview with fixed core questions, so answers can be compared, plus open follow-ups.
- Probe
- A follow-up question that asks for a specific example when a first answer is general.
